A bumper crop.

We have a small pear tree in our front garden,  not so big that we need steps or ladders to pick the fruit,  but for it's small size it produces a lot of fruit.   Normally that is.  Last year there was only enough to eat and the occasional windfall for Pip and Monty.  The year before last it seemed to be quite laden and as we're not sure that too many windfalls are good for dogs  we picked all the fruit and made wine.  That year we got 18lb of fruit.

 

These pears are only small,  only a bit bigger than bite-sized,  and are available in the local shops so next time I see them,  I'll try and find out which variety they are.

This year is another year that it's produced lots,  and again the windfalls are dropping.  Last week we put an olive net under the tree starting  from the fence and clipped it onto the lower branches.   Every morning there has been a dozen or so pears in the net but they are not keeping well so today I decided to pick them all off and make the first of this years wine.

38 pounds of pears.  And such a small tree. 

I spent a couple of hours chopping the fruit up,  into sterilized buckets,  added water and sterilizing tablets,  this afternoon we've added sugar water and yeast,  and covered with shower caps. 

Those long term readers of my ramblings may well remember the shower caps...for the newbies we use them to cover buckets of brewing fruit and also bowls of bread dough while it's rising.   In the  days before el crisis these shower caps were freely available at hotels,  nowadays I'm not so sure,  but we still have a stock of them. They aren't designed for long term use but will wash and dry - with care - and usually it's the elastic that goes long before the actual plastic tears.  But a very good way of protecting your brew or dough and see-through too so you know what's going on in the bucket or bowl.